Best Friends Never

by Isabelle Drake

  Hands finally free, Lexi pushed Ash to his Mustang, parked way past the single streetlight that had sent the pale rays in through the windows. Obviously he wasn’t much use in his present condition. They didn’t have time for him to snap out of it. “Ash, give me your keys. We’re going to the police station. Now. We have to go right now.”

  He stumbled along, still looking over his shoulder at the door to the building as they hurried away from it. “We shouldn’t leave Jon in there,” he murmured as he started to drag his feet.

  “Ash,” she said again, this time more sharply. “Give me your keys. That’s what Jon would want, for us to go get the police and tell them about Zeke.”

  Finally he turned his head forward. He dug the keys out, then handed them over to Lexi, who hit the fob to unlock the doors. Monica stuffed Ash into the back seat, then got into the passenger seat, and Lexi got behind the wheel.

  The engine rumbled to life. The warehouse disappeared in the rearview mirror as Lexi hit the gas. She wasn’t nearly as good as Ash with the standard transmission, but thankfully Cherry Grove’s over-the-top school system insisted that their driver’s ed program included manual transmission lessons.

  Monica braced herself as Lexi blew through a stop sign and took a sharp turn. The car bucked some as she shifted, but she managed to keep it going forward without stalling.

  “Ash?” Monica lifted herself up so she could look over the seat at Ash. “How did Zeke even know that place was there? Did you tell him?”

  “Obviously Zeke’s been planning this for a while,” he said, his voice thin.

  Lexi sucked in a deep breath, steadying her hand on the steering wheel as she raced the Mustang closer to the police station. Houses flashed past. She blew another stop sign, downshifted roughly to take the corner.

  “Lexi? Are you sure you should go to the police?” Ash asked.

  Lexi glanced into the rearview mirror. His face looked wrong and he was slumped down. What had happened to that forceful, furious guy of a couple hours ago? Yes, the scene in the science building had been a shock, but shouldn’t he be angry about that too? His reaction to his friend being dead didn’t make sense. He was useless right now. It was up to her to make the decisions. “Of course we have to go to the cops.”

  “That’s right, Ash,” Monica said, her voice strong. She spun around and dropped back into the passenger seat. “Zeke is still out there—who knows what he might do next?”

  “But, because of, well…” Ash started drumming his fingers across the top of the seat, his fingertips brushing Lexi’s hair. “The cops might think you did it. Killed Jon, I mean.”

  It took a second for Lexi to get that he was talking to her. “Why the hell would they think that?”

  He spoke again, his voice still flat but louder and stronger. “Because of Peter, like, maybe you actually did that, and everybody knows you hate Monica.”

  “I don’t hate Monica, and Peter—is—was…” Lexi glanced over, trying to see Ash’s face, but it was in shadows. “Didn’t you say you just saw Zeke?”

  “Yeah.” He kept staring ahead, drumming his fingers, flipping the ends of her hair. “At your house.”

  Her stomach clenched as the doused fire of adrenaline flared again. This time it blazed quickly, flaring through her body, igniting each nerve ending.

  Think, she reminded herself.

  Think.

  Not react.

  She looked at Ash in the rearview window. “Why would Zeke go to my house?”

  “He had to drop off some equipment, same as me, for your stepdad. I wanted to see you, you know, to say sorry for being an ass at the park. I know I haven’t said much about Peter and Jon, but I’ve been so stressed about them. I think I said some stuff I shouldn’t have.”

  His need to apologize meant nothing, but the thought of Zeke at her house filled her with terror and rage. Monica had posted the video to Facebook, not her. If Zeke hurt her mom, there was no telling what Lexi would do.

  Monica twisted back around, then held out her hand, palm up. “Ash, give me your cell.”

  He patted himself and shook his head. “I guess I lost it.”

  The rebuilt engine roared as Lexi hit the gas harder.

  “Seriously, Ash?” Monica flipped back around to dig through the jumble of maps and papers tucked in the narrow glove compartment. “Not in here.” She snapped the tiny door shut, glaring over the top of the seat. “Just like always. Do you really have to screw everything up? Every single thing, every single time?”

  Lexi spun around a corner. She was ready to ask Monica what she was talking about, but the other girl was still raging and besides, they were almost at her street.

  “You and Zeke both. Damn.” She fell into the back seat, grumbling to herself. “What total losers.”

  Finally, they reached her house. Lexi stomped on the brakes, making the tires squeal. She parked Ash’s car, climbed out, then ran to throw open her front door.

  She ran in.

  Empty.

  Lexi caught a glimpse of Monica rushing in behind her as she raced up the stairs, shouting for her mom as she went up two steps at a time. She checked every room. Empty.

  Downstairs, Monica shouted too, but no replies came.

  Lexi jogged down the steps, went straight to the wall phone, dialed her mom’s cell. It rang several times then went to voicemail.

  Time for the last resort.

  Dale.

  She dialed. He answered on the third ring.

  “Is my mom with you?” she asked, hoping her voice sounded calm. Or at least not as hysterical as she felt.

  “What kind of trouble are you in this time?”

  Not now. “Please, Dale, this is important. Is my mom with you?”

  “Where are you?”

  Lexi gritted her teeth, then forced out a reply. “I’m at home, looking for my mom. Do you know where she is?”

  He ignored her question. “Ash stopped by to ask about the equipment, told me you ditched him. I don’t know what kind of games you’re playing, using that kid—”

  While he was going on, a noise like a child’s laugh came from the background. He wasn’t alone. After the sound ended, he came back on the line. “After Ash left, your mom lost it, insisting we go look for you to make sure you were safe. I told her I’d finally had enough of your crap. I have better things to do than drive around looking for your sorry ass.”

  Monica started pulling on Lexi’s arm, but she ignored the sharp tugs, focusing instead on trying to get what she needed from Dale. “She’s out looking for me?”

  “I guess.” There was a pause, then more of the high-pitched chatter. Once again, he waited for the sound to stop before speaking to her. “I gotta go.”

  He disconnected.

  Lexi let out a breath as she looked at Monica. “She’s out driving around, looking for me. What? Why are you—?”

  “I found your bag on the ground next to the sidewalk. He must’ve tossed it there.”

  Lexi grabbed it and dug out her phone. A row of texts and missed calls from her mom.

  Monica grabbed Lexi and pulled her toward the front door. “We should go look for your mom. We gotta go find her.”

  Lexi stalled, her heart pounding. “We have to call the cops.”

  “Give me your phone, I’ll call them on the way. You look out the window for your mom.”

  Jogging to the car, Lexi handed her phone to Monica. Monica took it, swung open Ash’s car door and pointed to the back seat. Lexi dove in and seconds later they were racing away from her house, Ash behind the wheel, finally looking alert.

  Holding Lexi’s phone, Monica asked, “Did Dale mention Zeke? Say whether he stopped by or not?”

  “I’ll go down Grove, toward school,” Ash said when he reached the end of her street.

  The thought of going anywhere near the school made Lexi sick, but it did make sense that her mom would look for her there. “Okay, but check by the park too.”

  Instead o
f responding to her, Ash looked at Monica. “What do you think, Monica?”

  Monica held Lexi’s phone on her knee and twisted back and repeated her question. “Did your— Did Dale say anything about Zeke coming to your house?”

  “No, he didn’t mention Zeke. He said Ash came by to ask about the, the—” Ash made a sharp turn, throwing Lexi across the tiny back seat. She reached out to brace herself, her hand landing on a rough canvas bag. She pushed the bag—a bat slid out, then a catcher’s mask tumbled over it and rolled to a stop by her feet.

  She kicked it away. “Ash? Where’s Zeke?”

  Ash stared straight ahead, the school coming into view ahead. “How the hell should I know?”

  “Monica, give me my phone. I want to call the cops. Now.”

  “No. You watch for your mom, I’ll call.” Monica slowly starting tapping on the screen.

  “Ash killed Jon,” Lexi said, realizing that maybe she should have kept the words to herself.

  “No, I didn’t.” He shot a glance at Monica, a flicker of pain going across his face. “I’m keeping Jon. He’s not leaving, he’s my best friend.”

  Lexi grabbed the mask and held it up. “You’re crazy, Ash.”

  Monica twisted to see what was in Lexi’s hand.

  Ash shot around another corner and hit the gas. Lexi held on to the seat as his Mustang rumbled past Cherry Grove High. Headlights flashed in the rearview mirror, and he hit the gas to put distance between him and the car behind them.

  Monica lifted her palms. “What the hell are you going to do? Just drive away from what you’ve done?”

  “Shut up, Monica. I’m done listening to you.”

  “You should just turn yourself in,” she said, turning to look out of the window. “That way the cops will be easier on you.”

  Monica was pretending to be calm and Lexi, trying to follow her example, willed herself to think clearly. The car rumbled farther away from the school, in the opposite direction from the park.

  Lexi knew this stretch well. There wasn’t anything or anyone for a couple of miles. Overgrown fields of gnarled trees and closed-up cherry processing plants. There was no telling where Ash might take them or what he could do to them once he got them there. A guy who was capable of tying up his best friend and watching him rot was capable of anything.

  Monica stared straight ahead, her hands gripping the door handle. Lexi wedged herself between the seats and readied her hands at her sides.

  Ash continued to mutter to himself about plans and cops and friends.

  Lexi steadied herself and waited.

  The last of the abandoned cherry tree fields zipped past. The first of the familiar overgrown weeds and shrubs that hid the old Westerville baseball diamond came into view.

  Lexi lunged, grabbing the steering wheel and jerking it to the left. Ash fought back, lifting his elbows and throwing his head back as the car left the road, spun across the gravel shoulder and hit the ditch with a sharp jolt.

  Monica shrieked. The engine wailed.

  The struggle worked to Lexi’s advantage. He took his hands off the wheel. She grabbed it, jerked again and the car swerved, hitting the row of shrubs full force.

  The car shook as it bounced over the rutted ground until finally slamming into the long-forgotten backstop. Ash threw open the door and rolled out. Monica spilled out from the other side. Lexi scrambled after them.

  Monica headed straight for Ash. “Stop running, Ash. It’s over.”

  “Stop her, Lexi,” Ash yelled, swiping at tears. “You’re the only one who knows how to control her. You have to stop her, otherwise—”

  Monica shoved him from behind and the two of them tumbled backward over the batters’ bench.

  Lexi dove into the tangle of arms and legs. The darkness and tall grass made it impossible to see, so she had to go by touch to figure out who was who. Twisting and turning, Lexi fought to peel Ash off Monica.

  Above them someone shouted, “Get off my daughter.”

  Her mom, with her hands gripped tightly around a baseball bat, looking frazzled but surer of herself than Lexi had seen in a long time.

  Ash scrambled away and got to his feet. He held his hands up. “Wait, Mrs. Welks. Everything’s okay here. I can explain.”

  “You know what?” She raised the bat, twisted her waist. “I’ve had it with liars.” With that, she swung low, hitting him right behind the knees.

  He went down with a howl and a heavy thump.

  Lexi’s mom hovered over him. “Get up again and next time I’m aiming for your head.”

  Monica held up Lexi’s phone. “It’s time to call the cops.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Then Again, Maybe It Does Matter How You Play the Game

  “You sure you’re ready for this?” Lexi’s mom asked as they neared the front of Cherry Grove High.

  “Sure, no problem.” Maybe when the nightmare was really over she’d take a few days off, but not yet.

  Lexi’s mom rolled past the drop-off curb and pulled into a spot. “I didn’t mean school, I meant the appointment with Mrs. Howell.”

  “Oh, sure. She’s cool. You’ll like her.”

  Lexi reached for the door but her mom stopped her by putting a hand on her arm.

  “It’s not too late, is it? For us?”

  “What made you change your mind? About Dale?”

  “When Ash showed up, saying you’d ditched him, Dale and I argued about going to look for you. He kept refusing to go, saying I was being overprotective and a fool for thinking you’d obey the curfew. He kept saying we should let Ash go find you. That’s when it was obvious that Dale cared more about what Ash—his star pitcher—thought, than whether or not you were safe.

  “While I was driving around, scared out of my mind looking for you, you know where I found Dale?”

  Lexi shrugged.

  “At that diner. In the back room. With some twenty-year-old waitress.”

  “Sick.”

  “That’s one way of putting it.”

  Her mom pulled the keys out of the ignition and dropped them into her purse. “I should’ve accepted what you said, that something was wrong.”

  “All I wanted was for it to be just the two of us, you know, like this—just talking, doing stuff, depending on each other—like before.”

  The image of her mom taking down Ash with one swing of the bat snapped into her head. “Actually, I do have Dale to thank for my rescue.”

  Her mom sagged against the window. “Dale? Hello, I’m the one who showed up.”

  “I know, but you never would’ve found me if super-suspicious Dale hadn’t put that tracker on my phone.”

  Lexi pointed to her bag. “I wouldn’t care if you kept it. That way you could come and save me again.”

  “It’s gone already. Just like Dale.” She swung the door open. Lexi followed.

  The scene in front of the school was the usual—clear sun glinting off the factory-fresh gloss of new Acuras, Volvos and a couple of plain Fords. Pieces of Lady Gaga, Cake and, thanks to Spaz, ICP swam through the air. Clusters of freshman girls lingered by the doors, each girl tapping on her phone, talking and checking out the older guys.

  Jazz slipped through girls, rushed toward Lexi and threw her arms around her. “You have to tell me everything.”

  Lexi hugged her back, laughing when Jazz wouldn’t let go of her. “I will. I promise.”

  “You’re sitting with me, right?”

  Jazz pointed to a banner Lexi had somehow missed. The words ‘Fresh Start Pep Rally!’ screamed at her in bright red letters. The black outline on the banner made it look hideous.

  Jazz finally let go of Lexi. “This school is ridiculous, I know, but at least we don’t have to go to class.”

  “Of course I’m sitting with you, but I’m going to be a bit late. Mom and I are going to see Mrs. Howell.”

  “Oh, hey, Ms. Welks.”

  “Hi, Jasmine.” Lexi’s mom gave Jazz a quick hug. “I’m glad your pa
rents let you come back. Lexi’s been missing you.”

  After Lexi promised to find Jazz at the pep rally, they split up. Once Jazz was out of earshot, Lexi stepped away from her mom. “I’ll meet you at the office. I have to get some stuff from my locker.”

  * * * *

  The girl’s bathroom was empty.

  Lexi went to stand by the mirror then sent a quick text to Zeke—

  Now.

  She pulled out her lip gloss, opened it and waited.

  “So what is it that’s so epically urgent?” Monica asked as she rushed in.

  Lexi leaned against the bathroom wall, positioning herself in the corner just the way she and Zeke had set it up. “Did you hear they found Jon’s bike glove in Ash’s bedroom?”

  “So what? Aren’t you glad I kept you from going to the cops?”

  “No, actually I’m not. You told me Jon was okay.”

  “That was to keep you quiet. And you can see I was right about Ash. I put the glove in his room just to make sure he didn’t get away with anything.”

  “He could’ve killed us.”

  Monica’s laugh came out as a hoarse bark. “He wasn’t going to kill us. And it’s all over now. Be glad nobody ever figured out that Jon was with us that night. Drunk Jon was our little present to poor sad Ash.”

  A shiver ran down Lexi’s back, but she hid it by putting on another coat of lip gloss. “Not our present. Your present. I don’t remember any of that.”

  “Yeah, you never did get a handle on the drinking.” Monica looked her up and down. “But it was fun sharing our little secrets, wasn’t it?”

  Even if the cops charged her for her involvement, Lexi had to keep talking to get everything she needed. “Guess seeing a dead guy doesn’t freak you out like it does me.”

  “That was always the problem with everyone in science club. So squeamish, always acting like babies when it was time to do something real.”

  A roar of applause from the start of the assembly was followed by the stomping of hundreds of feet. Lexi waited until it faded. “I’m not squeamish. I’m not afraid to do something real.”

  “Yeah. Sure, Lexi.” Monica straightened and turned sideways, admiring her perfect boobs. “You keep thinking that and maybe I’ll let you be second place boosters’ president. You know, like a runner-up? You could be my personal ass, not just one day but every day. What do you think about that?”